I just got my General a few weeks ago . I am now taking advantage of my voice privileges within 40 M on an "involuntary" NVIS (LOW) 40 M horizontal Vee shaped dipole 15' over a flat apt. roof .I also need to run QRP (4 W @ ant ) from the IC 735 due to building fire alarm issues.

It has been a LOT of fun, punching through R-3 blackouts at up to S-9 + 5 or +10 anywhere from 150 to 250 Mi + away. I've had some GREAT long and fairly stable QSO's ( I'm a rag chewer anyways, and NOT the "you're 5/9/73's " type- if I can avoid it).

I have done ULTRA QRP work( as low as single milliwatts) on V/UHF SSB/FM and loved it.

On 10 M I've run 5 watts (at times) , but with the "lower" angle sky wave of 28 Mhz at , say 1000 mi, things often tend to be much more of a QSB "roller coaster". The STABILITY of CLOSE IN 40 M NVIS has impressed the heck out of me, even during daylight.

Now I gotta brush up my Morse some and get back into some CW QRP contacts.

You make a good point. Sometimes I tend to think....NVIS....not much of an antenna. For QRP it can actually work well. I lived in ND for a couple of years and all I could get up was NVIS (although I just called it a "low antenna"). First time I fired up the Argonaut I was skeptical but had a blast with it and the Argo was my only rig. I even had great luck running SSB at times. And, yeah, rag chews. It gave me very reliable coverage throughout the midwest and I could hit the coasts when the propagation was good and the wind was at my back. I've been thinking lately about "throwing something up" for 40 and 20 as an alternative to the vertical.

So congrats. Hey any antenna is better than sitting home watching reality TV!!

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